Milo, a young boy with little interest in anything, takes a trip through the Phantom Tollbooth to the Lands Beyond where he meets an enchanting cast of characters that teaches him the importance of words, numbers, ideas, creativity, and enthusiasm for life.

While waiting for her sister's medical appointment, a bored Amelia creates a handwritten book of fifty suggestions for passing the time.

As malady or inspiration, boredom looms large in our culture. Forever egging the writer on to new feats of interest, new forms of poetry, new, more engrossing ideas and creations, boredom both haunts and motivates the literary imagination. This book offers a witty literary explanation of why this should be. Investigating boredom's imaginative functions during the last two and a half centuries, Patricia Meyer Spacks reveals the shifting cultural purposes...

Buzz is a very good boy, who lives in a fancy house, eats well, and has equally well-behaved (boring) friends--but sometimes he would really like to break free, run fast, dig holes, and play with the other dogs.

"At the zoo with her family, a girl mopes around until she is asked to help rescue the zoo's penguins from boredom"--

Frankie and Sal have run out of things to do: "We've played every sport ever invented" and "baked enough cookies to feed a small country--" Then Sal hits upon a solution: "Let's do nothing!" How hard could that be?

"Ingrid works on a gargantuan cruise ship where she spends her days reorganizing the gift shop shelves and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the aisles. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship, wasting the hours aimlessly following tourists around, drinking the local alcohol, and buying clothes she never intends to wear. It's not a bad life. At least it distracts her from thinking about the other life--the other person--she left behind...

"Ray has spent his whole life as a light bulb in a lonely closet. But he's about to go on a big adventure!"--

"A sensitive and supportive story to help children learn practical strategies for coping with boredom and even see the opportunities it might present"--

Sonja is ready to get on with her life. She's over forty now, and the Swedish crime novels she translates are losing their fascination. She sees a masseuse, tries to reconnect with her sister, and is finally learning to drive. But under the overbearing gaze of her driving instructor, Sonja is unable to shift gears for herself. And her vertigo, which she has always carefully hidden, has begun to manifest at the worst possible moments. Sonja hoped her...